EVENTS

The London Society is committed to helping Londoners engage in the debate surrounding conservation, development and planning in the capital. We are building up a full programme of events to inform and engage the widest possible audience with tours, walks, roundtable discussions, debates and lectures. We aim to bring urban enthusiasts together to collectively contend with the challenges of the 21st century city.
We are developing a programme of engagement and discussion about issues of current interest. If a talk is sold out, please do register on the waitlist that will be in operation, as this is how we will gauge what event spaces are used for future talks.

Hugh Broughton Architects has been engaged in the careful restoration of the TUC’s London headquarters Congress House for the last 23 years. The Grade II* listed Modernist building in Fitzrovia, is just north of New Oxford Street and a few minutes’ walk from the British Museum.

Designed by David du Rieu Aberdeen, it opened in 1958 to commemorate union members who died in the world wars. The latest phase of the ongoing refurbishment is the creation of a second entrance, The Rookery, on Dyott Street, features a glass installation by artist Eva Berendes which continues the TUC’s ongoing commitment to art and architecture and visually reflects the TUC’s values and history. Earlier phases include the installation of a steel and ETFE roof canopy over the central courtyard, where the TUC’s seminal Epstein war memorial ‘Pieta’ is displayed.

Hugh Broughton, Director, Hugh Broughton Architects, will lead a tour of the ground floor spaces including the Rookery entrance and Marble Hall overlooking the central courtyard.

In conjunction with the C20 Society, Alan Powers and John East lead this very special full day vintage Routemaster bus tour, taking in town hall and other public buildings of the interwar period in a sweep around the north London suburbs.

Apart from Charles Holden and his most often illustrated underground station at Arnos Grove, the architects of these buildings are not the most famous, but in many cases were specialists in their building types and experts in winning competitions.

We shall see the exteriors (and interiors in some cases) of Camden, Marylebone, Islington, Hornsey, Friern Barnet, Waltham Forest and Stoke Newington - buildings that cover the stylistic spectrum between Corinthian pomp, II Duce Art Deco and Swedish Grace. There are also examples of educational and welfare buildings of the period.

*Lunch (attendees own expense) will be at Hornsey Town Hall in fashionable Crouch End and a tea stop at the William Morris Gallery (included in ticket price).

Join the Society for this informative series of Saturday morning talks with some of London's leading experts. Here you can block book for all five talks with the series discount - five talks for the price of four. Non-members will get a year's individual membership of the Society as part of the package.

The planning system is a complex world of jargon-filled regulations, inscrutable maps and emotionally charged meetings. It is inhabited by an unseemly mixture of politicians, developers and consultants, with ordinary local people often bearing the brunt of their deals in the high streets and neighbourhood roads where we live. It is often blamed for blighting our beloved places with ugly buildings, and yet is similarly accused of holding back the development we need to meet pent-up housing demand.

Planning is one of the most visible and potent out-workings of our democracy. It is the forum that safeguards by law our rights as citizens to influence the places we live and work in the city.

How then do we engage with the planning system? Why did some parts of London end up the way they did? What (or who) are the main forces at work in shaping urban form? How can we value the past while thinking about London's future? The Saturday Planning School will be a forum for discussing these issues in the midst of a rapidly changing London. As the city sees unprecedented changes in infrastructure provision, physical growth and demographic change, what does a well-functioning planning system look like?

Over five weeks, experts at the coal face of shaping London will be discussing the workings and challenges of London's planning system through the lens of scale - successively scrutinising the site, the neighbourhood, the borough and the city with an interlude on density and housing.

Join Dr David Knight and Guy Rochezas as they launch the Society's 2018 Planning School series. What is the future for the terraced and semi-detached house? What is the accumulated effect of backyard extensions? When does planning turn into non-planning? To what extent will London's housing growth be delivered in the suburbs?

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Dr David Knight is a designer, strategist, author and Co-director of architecture, planning and research studio DK-CM. He holds a PhD in architecture from the Royal College of Art where he is also a Visiting Lecturer, running ADS2 since 2012. He has delivered research which questions the limits of architectural production and explores new forms of agency and communication, notably the book SUB-PLAN: A Guide to Permitted Development (2009) and Building Rights (2010-), David’s PhD project on the politics of planning knowledge.

Guy Rochez is a Senior Officer and Architect in Croydon Council's Placemaking team, where he leads on the policy of suburban intensification. He has experience of developing strategic proposals that seek to work at a local scale; he was previously Head of Development at the design and development practice PARTI, where he oversaw the planning and delivery of a large-scale regeneration project in South Australia and smaller residential projects across London. His proposal for a new town in Mayfair that expanded the Grosvenor Estates vision for the area and was shortlisted in the NLA’s 100 Ideas for Housing London competition.

The Bartlett School of Architecture is one of the world’s most renowned and exciting architecture schools, in one of its most inspiring cities!

Its original home, Wates House was designed to accommodate 350 students and 90 staff when it opened in 1974 and by 2012, just under 1000 people occupied the site - it was failing to provide the quality or quantitate of space necessary for the school to flourish.

Hawkins\Brown, through a considered approach of relocating other uses, retention or the original structure, intervention and strategic addition, were able to double the usable area available to the school at their original site.

Following a deep retrofit between 2014-2016, 22 Gordon Street, now provides a desk for each student in open studio spaces, an exhibition space at the ground level and a focal staircase, and fantastic views across London, which opens and connects the entire school and building to the public.

Officially opened by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, in December 2016, 22 Gordon Street has won numerous awards and has achieved BREEAM excellence.

Euan Macdonald(Hawkins\Brown) andKevin Jones(UCL) lead this very specialBehind the Scenestour of one of the world's most renowned architecture schools.

Dr Jan Kattein and David Barrie pose the questions - How are high streets vital to our city? What are the forces that shape local neighborhoods? What is a community asset and what agency do communities have in the planning system?

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Dr Jan Kattein is an architect and lecturer who lives and works in London. In 2004 he established Jan Kattein Architects, a design studio that advocates socially engaged working methods. Jan understands design as an opportunity for dialogue and exchange. Pro-actively building relationships has given shape to a series of ground-breaking projects that make a civic contribution leaving an economic, cultural, educational and social legacy. Projects such as the High Road Leyton Town Centre Regeneration project, The King's Cross Skip Garden and the Blue House Yard entrepreneur's village are reevaluating how public policy is implemented. The studio's work features in the press internationally and has been recognized by the London Planning Awards, the New London Architecture Awards and the Civic Trust Awards. Jan's book, The Architecture Chronicle, Diary of an Architectural Practice was published by Routledge in 2014. Jan holds a lectureship in Architecture and Engagement at the Bartlett School of Architecture and he is also director of innovative regeneration venture High St. Works.

David Barrie has been involved actively in public participation in place-making and the revival of neighbourhoods for more than twenty years. Since creating two architectural design competitions for redundant places broadcast by the BBC in 1991 and 1995, he has founded an area based regeneration project in Castleford, West Yorkshire, a town wide urban agricultural venture in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, and The People’s Supermarket co-operative in Camden, London. Currently, he is running a venture investment network in West London which he founded in 2014. All of David’s work seeks to mobilise communities in support of the social and economic development of their neighbourhoods. He advises property developers and housing companies, public and private sectors, charities and community groups; and has worked with people in China, Canada and Russia, London, Cardiff and Glasgow.

London stood out against most of the rest of England by voting strongly for the UK to remain a member of the European Union and the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, has repeatedly warned that the consequences of Brexit will be bad for the capital. But is he right? London's economy is famously resilient and adaptable and seems unlikely to lose to its global appeal and identity any time soon. Might leaving the EU actually enable London to become stronger and even more outward looking?

No issue is more central to the future of London and, therefore, to the nation as a whole, and the London Society is delighted to join forces withOnLondon tohost this top flight debate about what that future will hold.

Speakers already include Labour peer and former government minister Lord Adonis, who is now devoting all his time and energy to making the case that Brexit should be stopped completely. He has described London as the effective "capital of Europe" and warned that its fall from such glory could be swift and sudden.

Taking the opposite view will be senior London Conservative Daniel Moylan, an experienced former councillor and adviser to Boris Johnson during his time as London Mayor. Writing for On London, he has argued that fears for London's prosperity are much overstated and that "Brexit will make London more global" along with liberating it from an immigration system that is "functionally racist".

More speakers from both sides of the Brexit debate will be announced in due course. On London founder and editor, the award-winning former Guardian journalist Dave Hill, will chair a Brexit debate of the highest possible calibre.

Claire Bennie and Lorraine Hughes explore - How dense should we plan? What are the principles of good high density housing? Why do big developments take so long in the planning system? What makes a good masterplan?

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Claire Bennie is Director of Municipal, a new consultancy which helps visionary people put thought, care, ambition and quality back into housing. Amongst other projects, Municipal is working with igloo and Nationwide Building Society to direct a new housing development in Swindon. Claire spent 11 years at London housing association Peabody, latterly as Development Director, leading an award-winning programme of 5000 new build homes. Claire pioneered smarter procurement at Peabody to achieve high quality built results as well as nurturing SMEs. Claire previously worked as an architect at Proctor and Matthews Architects on several housing schemes, including a phase of Greenwich Millennium Village. Claire is a panel member at Design South East and chairs Design Review at Brighton and Hove as well as Kingston councils. Claire is also a Mayor’s Design Advocate.

Lorraine Hughes is a Senior Director in CBRE’s Planning Team and has over 23 years’ experience as a planning consultant. She had advised on a number of large and complex development projects navigating successful outcomes through the planning system, formulating appropriate strategies, negotiating applications and acting as an expert witness. Previous projects include a number of Crossrail’s Over Sites in central London and also Wood Wharf to the east of the Canary Wharf estate, securing permission for a high density masterplan scheme for a mixed use development of over 650,000sqm.

Highgate West Cemetery is one of the most highly regarded Victorian cemeteries in the world. Now overgrown after years of neglect when closed in the 60s, the sinuous paths meander through atmospheric gothic tombs and impressive family vaults and graves. Highgate is still an active cemetery, so mixes heritage (there are over 100 listed monuments), nature conservation and social history (some of the most famous ‘popular’ Victorians are buried there), with contemporary graves, although very few of those are shown on the tour. The East cemetery, which is not as dramatic, has many of the contemporary well-known graves, along with George Eliot and Karl Marx.

Join us for this fascinating tour of one of the capital's 'Magnificent 7' cemeteries.

Please Note: The West Cemetery has steps, steep and uneven paths and no seats. Some paths are soft or uneven and so not suitable for buggies or wheelchairs.

Starting in 1974 as a temporary scheme, through large organic growth during the 1980s, to new permanent buildings in the 1990s. Camden Market is set to reinvent itself in 2019.

From zero customers to over twelve million visitors each year, from zero employment to over two thousand jobs. Eric Reynolds continues our look into 'London the Market' as he explores the history of London's world famous Camden Market.

Patricia Brown and Dr Jessica Ferm discover - How has central London changed in the last 20 years? Why do some boroughs look so different to each other? Why does local plan-making take so long, and why is it important? What is the role of design in the planning system?

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Patricia Brown is Director of Central, a niche consultancy centred on the dynamics of cities and the process of achieving change. Central advises business and civic leaders on partnerships, developments and projects to create thriving places, economies and business. She led the development of the first BIDs, and Legible London, as well as lobbying for the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square. Patricia is Vice Chair of the British Property Federation’s Development Committee and was previously Chair of the London Festival of Architecture and Deputy Chair of the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group, helping to lead its Good Growth Agenda. Patricia works across the UK, as well as New York where she is an adviser to Times Square Alliance and a consultant to Columbia University’s Centre for Urban Real Estate.

Dr Jessica Ferm is a Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, where she teaches and researches on the intersections between spatial planning and the economy. She has published on the topics of affordable workspace and planning for industry in both academic and trade journals. Jessica is active in planning practice and policy in London, and is a member of Just Space Economy and Planning, the London Planning and Development Forum, and the GLA Industrial and Logistics Sounding Board. Prior to becoming a lecturer, she worked for 10 years in both private and public practice for Urban Practitioners and the London Borough of Enfield. Her co-edited book, Planning Practice: Critical Perspectives from the UK, was published in 2018 by Routledge and includes her own chapters on Plan-making and Planning for Economic Progress.

How We Work is a Member’s Only 'behind the scenes' series of informal evenings with a key principal from one of the capital's leading architectural studios. The evening will look at the studio’s history, current and future projects.

KPF’s London Office established in 1990, and since opening it has become the base for a truly international practice, working across Europe, the Middle East and beyond. The office now has up to 140 staff and is led by 7 Principals and 10 Directors.

Their vast experience in London in particular includes complex urban projects across many of the boroughs. They have proven expertise maximising the potential of underused sites, contributing to significant placemaking and regeneration efforts. They have influenced the development of areas which are crucial to London’s advancement, supporting the city’s position on the world stage, whether transforming a previously derelict site, in the case of Canary Wharf, or enhancing tightly knit historic areas such as the Square Mile, Mayfair, Earls Court and Covent Garden.

Join President and Design Principal, Jamie von Klemperer, Principal, John Bushell and the Society for this intimate Members Only evening as we discover the past, present and future of one of London’s most exciting architectural studios.

Saturday, 29 September, 11:30 – 12:30Mark Brearley and Euan Mills ask - What are London's strategic planning objectives? Why does the mayor get involved with individual planning applications? Why should we get involved in strategic policy? Who will drive future planning practice?

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Mark Brearley is Professor of Urbanism at The Cass at Aldgate (London Metropolitan University) where he leads the Cass Cities initiative. He is an advisor to the governments of Brussels and Flanders on development that welcomes diverse enterprise, and is currently Ateliermeester for the programme Atelier Brussels, The Productive Metropolis. Until 2013 he worked for the Mayor of London as Head of Design for London at the Greater London Authority. He is also proprietor of long established London tray and trolley manufacturer Kaymet, and is spokesman for business association Vital OKR, which he helped to establish.

Euan Mills is the Urban Futures Lead at the Future Cities Catapult. He has 16 years' experience working in the built environment industry, including 6 years providing design advice to the Mayor of London and his planning team, contributing towards a number of key planning policy and research documents and negotiating major development proposals on behalf of the Mayor. Prior to this he worked as an urban designer at Urban Initiatives, developing masterplans and regeneration strategies for public and private sector clients and set up the Chatsworth Road Neighbourhood Forum and Traders and Residents Association. He is visiting lecturer at a number of universities and has written a number of articles on the impact of new technology on cities.

The red phone box is a true icon of London. Now essentially redundant, the humble kiosk remains a magnet for tourists and Instagrammers looking for an authentic London backdrop. But what of London's other street furniture? Most of us walk past without a second glance, but this is to miss a world of enchantment.

Have you ever hunted the city's rare Edward VIII post boxes? Do you know where in London one can find a bollard shaped like a policeman, or a penis? Our city contains musical benches, anti-urination guards, hidden ventilation shafts, stink pipes, 1,500 working gas lamps, and railings made from WW2 stretchers. Even the humble junction box has become a canvas for street artists, while coal hole covers are collectors' items. In Abbey Road we even have the world's most famous (perhaps the world's only famous) pedestrian crossing.

Londonist Editor-at-Large Matt Brown promises that you'll never look at your street the same way again after you hear him talk a load of bollards for an hour.

Anyone travelling by train between Waterloo/Vauxhall and Clapham Junction will have noticed that Nine Elms is changing fast - it is currently one of the largest regeneration areas in Europe. This walk led by London Blue Badge Tourist Guide, Rosie Pollard, follows the river Thames from Vauxhall to Chelsea Bridge taking in the changing landscape and focussing on 2 buildings - the new American embassy and Battersea Power station. Some of the most recognised architects in the world are involved in the 15 year project to redevelop the Power station and the 42 acre site - Phase 1 is already complete opening up public access to the Thames.

The 3.5 km walk finishes at Circus West Village by Chelsea Bridge which offers a variety of cafes and restaurants.

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